Three Words: I Love You
by flockgrl18
Summary: Its hard knowing your family will never be safe; that the guy you love is a traitor; that the guy who loves you, and will always have your back, is gone; that you'll never  get to tell him those three words "I love you" FAX! hope u like long CH.'s
1. My Mucho Bigger Family

**Seeing You Again******

**Disclaimer... For entire story! I DO NOT OWN MAX RIDE. JP DOES. I OWN THE CHARACTER NAMED ASH. XD enjoy! **

**Btw, Voice comes in much later in the story. **

********BIG FYI: sentences or parts of this later with a ****double colon and a period**** (" ****.::like this::.**** ") means that part is in a message or a letter or wtv. :) not thoughts or words spoken aloud; words in a LETTER. Capishe? Capishe!************

**R&R!**

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__**~Chapter 1~**_  
__**My Mucho Bigger Family...**_

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**Max's POV**

Before I continue with the problem at hand, lemme catch you up on the latest.

Right now, I really have no idea what to think. Fang just showed up at the crack of dawn, after almost an entire two years, with his own, _new_ flock and expected me to take them all in. Including him, which I was very unhappy about. Of course, though, me being ME, I did just that. But honestly? I was _seriuosly_ considering sending Fang away. I should've, too; it would've saved me _loads_ of extra trouble.

A week before that, however, a letter had been sent to our safe-house (REALLY big by the way. Like, E-HOUSE or bigger.) addressed to me. No return address or any sort of stamp. Probably dropped off by hand... or they tipped our mailman really, _really_ high.

The letter went like this:

**}+{ *Flashback* }+{**

I thanked the mailman (not our usual guy today. it was some guy with dark green hair... Can we say "Woah" much?) and took the letter inside, reading it at the living room table.

.::Dear Max,  
I am sure you are wondering about the whole non-return address thing. I couldn't take the risk of having my name get into the wrong hands. I hope it isn't much of a problem. ::.

_Yeah right,_ I thought as I read it. _Not a problem _at all!_ I only don't know _your name_, or _what to call you._ Sure thing. No biggie! _(NOT!)

.::You cannot let anyone outside of your flock know about this. It may sound cliché, but this is considered confidential information. If this leaks out, well, let's just say the blood will be on your hands.

I received the following prediction yesterday. And unfortunately, it's about you. ::.

My mystery pen pal attached six pieces of regular (8.5 x 11) paper, each one folded in half once. On each piece of paper was a picture. No, actually, more of a sketch. But a very realistic sketch. All were in color.

On each picture was a post-it note. I smirked. _Hah, post-it. How modern..._

I unfolded picture number one and the sticky note read, .::This one does not have anything to do with the prediction, because I am pretty sure you will not believe me. So I am showing you THIS to hopefully prove to you, Max, my ability to predict things through art. Count to ten, and this will happen: ::.

I frowned, confused, but counted to ten in my mind. As I counted the picture in my hands showed a room which I realized is our kitchen.

Four.

...a bottle on top of the refrigerator was tipped over...

Six.

...and was in midair in the picture. I looked closer and saw...

Eight.

...that the name of the bottle was Apple Spice, which was the bottle of cider we bought just a few days ago. No occasion, just—

CRASH! (Ten!)

My head shot up, and I ran to the kitchen in the next room. Nudge and Gazzy looked up sheepishly by the refrigerator.

I glared at them. I glared harder at Dylan, who entered the kitchen from outside, coming in through the door behind Gazzy and Nudge.

Dylan waved his hands up in surrender, backing out. "Ok, Ok, I think I'll go around the other way..." I rolled my eyes as he hurried out the door with a _slam!_

Gazzy and Nudge began to explain at the same time, but I tuned them out as I examined the label of the broken bottle amongst the cider and glass sprayed across the floor_. Apple Spice. Damn._ _Mystery Pen Pal was good._ How he knew how our kitchen looked like was creepy, but no one could have predicted that crash unless they had some crazy ability. Our house was located in the middle of the forest, so it's not like we had neighbors that knew how our place looked like, either…

I huffed and cut off Gazzy and Nudge, who were still trying to blame each other. "Gazzy, give Nudge her camera back; and Nudge, you _have_ to stop sneaking pictures of everyone else if they _don't_ want it done. And no more chasing each other around the house. Clean this up, you guys, and watch the glass!" **(A/N: this actually happened to me last week. We had a wine bottle on top of the fridge and my mom closed the door, which shook it and it fell down. It looked awesome! It was like a reddish paintball went SPLASH in the middle of our floor, with chunks of glass everywhere. Lol.)**

They nodded and I could still hear Nudge and Gazzy arguing as I walked away. I sat back down in the living room and picked up my letter, looking at Picture Número Dos.

To my discomfort, it was of me. I was standing at the door and looking at, surprise surprise...Fang. At least, I think it's him.

.::In exactly a week, this person and his flock will go to your home and ask for your help. Max, you must _at least_ hear him out. He plays an important part in what's yet to come::. Now _that_ was a long sticky note.

I was too shocked to think about Fang right now, so I moved on to picture three.

.::That's actually me at the door, so don't worry. We'll meet soon. (By the way, I _am_ a friend. I have a score to settle with The Academy, too. :) )::.

_OMFG! __**The Academy!**_ The worst. Place. On the planet (which is pretty damn big). I almost wanted to toss the letter into the fireplace and never think about it again.

**Oh, don't stop now!** Angel said in my mind. **I wanna hear the rest of the letter!  
**_  
Angel—out!_

She giggled and I gave a small smile. **Ok, ok.** She thought to me. I felt her leave and I returned to picture three.

This time, I was coming down our glass, yes glass, staircase and I had stopped on the second to last step. Most of the flock, and five others I didn't know of, were lounged across the sofas in the living room. Ange was in a corner with one of the little girls, and Nudge was at the door. I saw a guy, maybe at an age of 18 (two years older than me), standing in the doorway looking at me intently. He had dark brown eyes and blondish-light brown hair.

I frowned. He looked he knew me, but I sure as hell didn't know him. Whatever. _NEXT!_

Picture four: .::This isn't your last breath, don't worry::. the note read.

The picture showed me with my back turned walking away through a tall grassy field. A shadowy figure clad in black was behind me, hood up, a shiny blade in the process of hurtling through the air at me.

I shuddered and quickly turned to picture 5, trying to avoid that picture the most.

.::I hope this never happens::.

I was back to back with blondie boy that was in the last photo. In the background I saw slitted yellow eyes in the shadows of the trees. I guess we were somewhat cornered by something that was hunting us. _Hm._ I smirked. _Yup, I hope that never happens too, buddy._

The final picture, número 6, was a black and white sketch of two people: _Me and Fang.  
_  
.::I hope this isn't _too_ much of a personal subject, Max. But I guess I should tell you, although it's pretty obvious, that he _really_ loves you::.

What really shocked me was the way we stood. I _clearly_ noticed the way Fang had both of his arms wrapped around my waist, how I was held to his chest securely; how I was trying to hide a grin, strands of my hair falling in my face as I bit my lip; how Fang had his cheek pressed against my hair, how his lips gently formed the smallest of smiles; how we actually looked..._happy_ _together_. Something I haven't _truly_ felt in very long while.

One part of my mind felt the sight almost made me hopeful. _Key word_ being _almost_. I know if he ever shows his face again, I just couldn't love him the same way. _definitely_ not like the picture in my hands now. And yet in this sketch, he looked exactly like he did a year ago, before he left. Like he loved me. Maybe more. His eyes showed more emotion in this picture than any time I've ever seen them.

_Nah,_ The other part of me thought. _It's the way my Mystery Pen Pal drew it; I'm being overly optimistic._ I let out an unsteady sigh and put the pictures aside, reading the rest of the letter.

.::I hope this isn't creepy or anything, and I know you may not believe me, but as you saw in picture three, I somehow end up...wherever the hell you are.

Like I also mentioned earlier. I'm a friend. We have a common enemy. And I know you from the Academy. Whether you remember me or not remains a mystery to me, but it'll all work out in the end.

—Stay safe,  
A.R.  


And that was all it said. _That's_ how it finished! And all I get is the initials _A.R._ and a couple of freakin _pictures_? Unfair! (then again… my entire _life_ isn't exactly fair…)

I sighed and went upstairs to my room, placing the letter and pictures inside my bedside table. But I kept the one of Fang and I on top, so I could just open my drawer and take a peek inside. I smiled, and I _think_ right then and there, a tiny spark lit somewhere inside of me.

**}+{ *End Flashback* }+{**

So, you may be confused a bit, but I have a feeling this will all make lots of sense later. Things always do. They mean total _crap_ to me in the beginning and then suddenly—_BAM!_ I should've paid closer attention.

Anyway, how does this all connect with _Fang_, you ask? Well, he somehow found our location and showed up on our doorstep. He had a simple, small piece of paper with a message saying .::Two groups must unite as one; I do believe you'll find the other group here in San Francisco. ::. —and _there_ was _our address_ along with _A.R._ signed at the bottom.

_A.R..._Whoever this supposed "friend" was, I hope they knew what they were doing. Cause Fang and I (and the flock) hadn't said anything to each other. And it was SO not cool.

Well...okay. I lie. The flock _did_ _kinda_ talk to him, and they definitely mingled with 'his flock'. As for me, well, let's just say I avoided a certain someone.

**(A/N: okay! I'm done with all the catching up! I just wanted to fill u guys in, and I hope that all made sense! Sorry if it didn't! Now my **_**REAL STORY BEGINS HERE. **_**thx to all who read up to this point, and didn't drop it! Stay with me through chapter 2, guys! :] I'll post that up tomorrow!)**

**~}{~**

I yawned and got out of bed, glancing at the clock on the way to my closet. _9:30 AM._ Not bad, seeing as I had to answer the door at, like, 3 in the morning.

I quickly threw on some white shorts, a dark blue long sleeve top, and some flip flops. As I brushed out my long, blonde hair I realized I should _probably_ cut it, since it went past my chest already._ Whatever. _I shrugged off the thought and headed downstairs.

Now…..remember how I said I _avoided_ a certain someone?

I unfortunately _ran into him_ exiting my room.

"Sorry," we both muttered at the same time. I lowered my eyes and pursed my lips, quickly trying to walk around him. The picture of me and him still burned in the back of my mind.

I heard him sigh and grab my arm gently, stopping me. "Max, we really need to talk."

Okay. If he makes this a regular issue, I'm going to be a _bit_ irritated the next few days. "Honestly, Fang, there's really nothing to talk about." I looked him at him dead on, letting all my emotions flow through my eyes. I showed him Anger, Sadness, Irritation, Insecurity, Struggle, More Anger, and the pieces left of a Broken Heart. If he could still read me just as good as he did before he left, he'd see and hopefully _feel_ every single one.

I guess he did, because he broke eye contact and released me quickly, blinking rapidly as if I had slapped him. "Max," he started quietly. "I-I'm —"

I cut him off, raising my hand sharply. "Don't say it, Fang. Because right now, _nothing_—not even an apology—will make anything right. _Nothing you say_ will change the way I think of you right now." I stared him down hard, making sure he saw the pure hatred coursing through me. He flinched. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I suggest we introduce _my_ flock to _yours_. Meet in the dining room." I left without another word, leaving him standing there alone in the hallway. The last, and only, emotion I read in his eyes was hurt, but I was probably imagining it. I mean, he cannot call himself _hurt_ after what _HE_ did to _ME_.

I walked downstairs calmly. Apparently Angel had told _everyone_ that we were meeting because they were all seated at our large dining table. To my surprise, we had already started to mingle among each other. Iggy was already flipping pancakes onto plates in the kitchen.

I purposely sat in between Dylan and Iggy, who was dishing out the food to us all.

"Hey," Dylan, on my left, said. He gave me a sweet, but short, kiss on the lips.

"Well," I said. I was teeny bit sad it didn't last longer. "Good morning to you, too!"

He smiled at me before taking a bite of his breakfast. I ignored Fang, who had entered the room and grabbed a seat at the end of the table.

Dylan's been totally sweet on me since Fang left. And we were kinda going out, I guess. If you call kissing each other all the time 'dating' then yes—we're going out. And he actually made me happy.

After we had all eaten a little, I pushed my plate aside and sat back. "Okay everyone, as cheesy and cliché as this sounds, I think we should go around the table and introduce ourselves." they all looked at me. I held back a laugh. "Um. Okaaayy! So does anyone want to go first...?"

"Oh! Pick us! Pick us!" two guys shouted. They were seated at the back of the room next to each other and were waving their hands frantically.

I laughed at them. "Alright, you guys can go, and we'll go clockwise from there."

They slapped each other high fives and shouted "YES!" before looking at the rest of us. They looked like close brothers: the one closer to me was the one with black floppy hair, a black shirt on and grey faded jeans. The one next to him was wearing grey jeans and a white shirt. He had blond hair with streaks of dark brown in them. Both the brothers had these crazy colored eyes. I thought they were light brown at first, but they turned out hazel, which later looked green, then blueish, then turned back to hazel. They already confuse me!

To my surprise the black haired brother spoke first, pointing to his brother and saying "He's Keanu!"

The blonde brother, Keanu, pointed to his brother and said "He's Keoni!"

Keoni spoke next. "We're the—"

"—Laki Brothers!" Keanu shouted over Keoni. Funny how they still said it together.

Keoni frowned and we laughed. "Thank you for that, Keanu," he said sarcastically. Keanu grinned and sat back. Keoni rolled his eyes at his brother. As he opened his mouth to speak, Keanu interrupted again. "Laki means 'Luck,' or 'Lucky' in Hawaiian, just so you know. And call me Anu." he winked at me and I had to laugh. He was funny. I liked him. (NO, not like THAT, you idiots!)

Keoni shoved his brother aside with his arm. "Anyway, he may act like he's two, but we're both really 15. And call me Oni for short."

I nodded. "'Kay. So, any...abilities?"

"Obviously we have wings, since we flew here." Oni stated. His were a mixture of grays and black; Anu's were a mixture of tan colors. "Though that's not exactly an ability, now, is it. I guess for _power_ related abilities... hm ..."

"Seriously, man? You gotta count that," Keanu said.

"No, I don't," Keoni replied.

"Yes, you do," Anu shot back.

"No!" —Oni

"Yes!" —Anu

_Ange? Do ya mind? This seems like it would last a while._ I thought to her.

She grinned at me from the other side of Iggy, who was on my right. **Okay, Max!****  
**  
She sat there in concentrated silence, but her eyes widened within thirty seconds. (Yes, Oni and Anu were still at it...) Angel finally interrupted them. "Keanu can control light, which I guess includes the sun and heat. It's not exactly fire, but-"

"_How _you knew that…is..just _wicked cool_. But, anyway, like this-" Anu cupped his hands and forced a teeny ball of light to appear. We had to squint our eyes because of its intensity. A few seconds later we heard a spark and he opened his cupped hands to reveal a tiny little yellow flame; the ball of light could still be seen in the middle.

"Kinda like a little Sun," Gazzy said, between Angel and Oni.

Keanu nodded and flattened his hands against each other, putting out the flame. "Yeah, you could say that. A little sun."

Angel continued. "They think of themselves like Yin and Yang; and since they're brothers, and Anu can control light, Oni controls the opposite, which is darkness-like _shadows_-and also coldness."

Oni placed his hand on the table and we eventually heard a small crackling noise. When he lifted it, we could see a thin ice layer in the shape of his hand. "And, Maxie, if you'd look behind you..."

I did as he said and jerked back at the sight of a shadow...which was _definitely_ not mine; it was Oni's.

"Whoa, there, Oni," I gave a tiny laugh as his shadow attempted to dance.

Then-get this-his shadow walked up to Iggy, who had briefly looked away to take a bite of food, and slapped him on the back of his head. Iggy released his grip on the fork and it stuck out of his mouth like a thermometer. He growled and turned around, widening his eyes when seeing a big black shadow standing next to him, hands on its hips. Iggy made a sound along the lines of: "AAUURRGGHH," the fork still in his mouth. He poked Oni's shadow and his finger bounced back at him, causing another "AUGGHFF!" from Iggy. We all laughed and Oni called his shadow back, where it took it's rightful place behind him and his chair.

I laughed, while Iggy took the fork out and swallowed. "That's right, pick on the blind guy..." he teased.

"You're blind?" Anu asked in astonishment. Iggy dropped his fork and huffed in exasperation.

"Never mind that, Anu. We'll get to Iggy soon. Oh, and by the way? _Don't_ call me Maxie." I remember a friend from my past, how he always called me 'Maxie'. He sadly got killed trying to save my life when we were separated.

"It brings back bad memories," I said aloud. The flock, my original flock, gave me odd looks—Fang practically drilling his eyes into my head, trying to figure out what the _hell_ I was talking about. I forgot they weren't with me when I was that young; they have no idea what I'm talking about. "Okay, nevermind. Let's move on..." I looked pointedly at a little girl across from Anu at the end of the table, next to Fang.

She smiled; she was so _cute_...violet eyes with this crazy (but perfect!) dark blue/violet colored straight, long hair like mine and a few shorter strands towards the front of her face, ending by her chin.

"I'm Jasmine," she said. "Jazzy for short, and I'm eight years old. As for _my_ abilities, I can heal people—"

"—except yourself," another boy interrupted.

She frowned at him. "—yes, except myself," At our surprised looks, she smiled. "Yeah, I know. Sucks, right? But I try not to heal a lot anyway because it takes a lot of my energy away."

"Don't forget the whole Orbing thing, Jaz," a girl next to Fang said, leaning back casually. She had short, blonde hair—spiky and layered...sort of like like Alice from the movie _Twilight_.

Jazzy grinned. "Orbing is what the white coats called my teleportation." she demonstrated by giving an evil grin and disappearing in a blue, sparkly mist. She reappeared behind Iggy—smacking the back of his head as he tried to take another bite of pancakes.

The fork shot out of his mouth, clanking on his plate in front of him. He swallowed his food and said, a little out of breath, "_Must _I be the _test subject?"_

Jazzy returned to her seat and grinned widely. "I can also orb objects to me, but I suppose I can show you another time."

We moved on to Fang, who has only developed his ability to breathe under water, and can now also walk around and stay invisible. Nothing great happening with him. _Pshh._ I mean, _I _could've told you that _ages_ ago.

...As if to prove me wrong, that's when he told us that he got the power of Energy Manipulation.

"Mani poo- _what_?" Nudge asked.

"Manipulation. So, how do you _manipulate_...this...energy?" I asked, letting the doubt show in my voice. (Not that, of course, that was the _only_ thing I doubted in him. But let's not get into that, now, shall we?)

To my surprise, he corner of Fang's mouth twitched; that nimrod thought I was starting to talk to him again! I sent him a brief look that said_, Nuh-uh. That's not happening any time soon, buddy.__  
_  
The Laki Brothers answered my question. "He can basically enhance someone's powers, or weaken them," Anu said.

"But he has to be touching them," Oni added.

"That's cool," Gazzy muttered, unenthusiastically. When it came to Fang, we all didn't want to focus on him too much.

So we just ditched Fang and moved on to the next person. (See? Easy!)

Beside him was that blonde girl that had spoken earlier. We found out she was 14 years old and named Fiona-Fi for short. As for her abilities, she simply said: "Me? I'm fast. Really, _really_ fast."

"How fast?" I challenged.

She sensed my challenge and replied, "I just made it to 550 miles an hour; well, on the ground, anyway. 500 miles in the air. Why…?"

I almost laughed when Gazzy said, "_Ooohh!_ Max, you got competition!"

That's when Iggy chimed in, bragging that "Max just hit 800 last week!"

Yes, folks, I—Maximum Ride—just topped 800 miles an hour. Cue the roaring crowd!

At first I thought I had insulted Fi, but she soon smirked and said, "You'd be fun to race against, Max."

...And that's when I decided I liked her.

Next was Jazzy's 10 year old brother, Leo. He had this really dark blue hair, kinda like his sister's, except the tips of his hair were spiked black.

"I can walk through solids, so far only _walls_, and I can control electricity." he flexed his fingers and quick rows of blue electricity went down his fingertips to his wrist.

.::.::.::.

So we continued to go around the table, now getting to my flock. Nudge's power over metal objects turned into telekinesis; Dylan can still "See Around the World" as he claims; I still have my super speed, and an annoying voice in my head; Angel still has her genetic jackpot, nothing new with her-thank_ God_; Iggy can feel all the colors now, and he gained the power to control electronic stuff...including all the gadgets and gizmos needed to make a bomb; all he needed to do was picture it in his mind. (You have _no idea_ how crazy he and Gazzy can get...) Speaking of the Gazzer, he's able to mimic voices without hearing them first...and we can't exactly forget about his digestive issues, can we? (He insisted on demonstrating at the table, but we kicked him out of the house before he 'Let 'er rip!'. Gasman came back in grinning proudly.) I know, I know… _ew_, right?

And that's when Total came in, hopping onto the table in front of Angel. "You forget something?" he asked me sarcastically.

"No—I mean, _gee!_ How could I forget something so _important_?" I replied with the same tone. "Great work, Sherlock."

Turning to Fang's flock, I introduced Total. "Guys—this is Total, our talking dog." I muttered. They all pretty much gawked except for Jazzy and Fang; Jazzy clapped her hands with delight, and laughed as Total came over and licked her hand.

"Oh, you _charmer_, you," I told him sarcastically. We laughed.

.::.::.

Eventually everyone disbanded, going into the living room. I cleared the table and started loading dishes into the dishwasher.

Two arms snaked their way around my waist, making me set the dishes aside. "Dylan..." I warned. Too many people around for this. I turned around in his arms.

"Hi," he chuckled, looking down at me.

I crossed my arms. "Can I help you?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

I tsked and turned back around. "You are such a tease."

He leaned back against the counter and smirked.

"So, how's everyone doing out there?" I asked, leaning next to him.

He put an arm around my side and pulled me closer. "Well, I think they're doing pretty good. I came in here to give you some company."

I hugged him around the waist, saying "I think I'm gonna take a nap, though, Dylan."

"You okay with everything?" he asked.

I paused. "Ye...Yeah... I guess so." except about the fact Fang came back. It made things a lot more complicated now. And I didn't need complications in my life! If the letter I got is right, then I need my old, simple life back... especially if **The Academy** is back.

I blinked out of my thoughts, looking back at Dylan. "Well, wake me up in an hour or two," I said. I gave him a short kiss and tried to leave but he caught my arm and pulled me back towards him.

"Max, it's ten o'clock. You never take naps in the morning; last week you went to bed at eight thirty; the week before that it was nine; last night you went to bed at eight; and now you wanna take a nap?—Max, I'm worried about you, and I know you know what's going on. Don't leave me out of the loop, Max." my heart thumped harder when he said that; I remembered when Fang said that to me.

When I trusted him completely;

When I could count on him;

When I was in love with my right hand man;

When he was HERE.

I pulled away harshly. "Nothing's wrong, Dylan; I'm tired, okay? Really tired. Now goodnight," I snapped.

I left before he could grab me again. He and I have been fighting lately; like everything I was doing was either wrong or irritating to him. I mean, he did make me happy most of the time... Just not lately. Like now, for example. The guy was acting like a total a-hole!

I huffed and popped my head into the living room briefly, leaning against the doorframe. I saw Oni and Anu sitting next to each other on one of the couches; Gazzy and Iggy were sitting near them on another sofa; Leo, Nudge and Fi were sitting on the floor in between with Jazzy and Ange sitting against a wall across from me. Fang was sitting with Oni and Anu, but he wasn't into the conversation—more like he had his mind on other things. Well, not that he would be talking, anyway. He looked up at me and met my eyes as I scanned the room.

I pursed my lips and lowered my gaze, turning to the stairs to my left and walking away. I know—_smooth_, right?

I hurried upstairs, but slowed—feeling a familiar sharp pain on the skin of my neck.

I cursed, reaching my room and running to the bathroom. The sharp pain had begun the last week or so, but there were no visible signs of damage.

Like this time, for example; checking the back of my neck in the mirror I saw nothing. Zero, Zip, Nada. So I splashed cool water on my face before laying down on my bed.

**.::. ****(sleep, sleep, SLEEP, sLeEp, SlEep, SLEEP, sleep….) .::.**  
**(Wakey WAKEy! XD)**

Someone shook me awake. I groaned and flipped over, smushing my pillow over my head.

"Max, wake UP! Its already two!" someone said.

Another one joined. "Up up UP!"

"Hey, can you teleport her?" The first asked. _ANGEL.._ _Don't you dare!_ I thought to her.

"Oh! So you _are_ awake! Good!" Angel said. I rolled over and sat up to see Jazzy and her sitting at the foot of my bed, giggling.

I ran a hand through my long hair. "Yes, I AM awake. Now, I suggest you two teleport on out of here, or—"

"Say no more, Max!" Jazzy took Angel's arm, surprising her, and bowed; as she bent over, the two disappeared in blue shimmer.

"The last thing I need in this house is even _more_ people; I swear, one more person will drive me insane…" I grumbled. The doorbell rang as I got out of bed, and I heard Nudge get the door.

"Max!" she called; she sounded a bit nervous. "There's someone here to see you!" 

"Coming!" I shouted back, briefly fixing my hair.

On my way out, the sharp pain on the back of my neck intensified, making me curse—but it disappeared a moment later. I sighed as I headed down the stairs.

"He says his name is Ash, Max! Do you know him?" Nudge said, continuing to flap her big mouth.

_No_…that can't be…I mean, my brother, Asher—he _died_ when I was _10._

I frowned, almost reaching the bottom. "Sweetie, that's not _poss_—" I cut myself off and stopped at the second to last step, looking at our visitor, standing in the doorway. "Possible," I finished, quietly.

Tall, brown-eyed, blonde and light brown hair…he _looked_ like how I'd think an older Ash would look like.

"Ash?" I said softly, stepping down all the way and walking into the room halfway. The rest of the room was quiet, and I could feel the stares burning into my back. I swallowed hard.

"Hiya, stranger," he teased. I'm guessing my eyes lit up, because he gave me a small smile. I remember when he first said that to me, when I was about three and he was eight-ish; it's what he said when we had first found we were siblings.

And just like fourteen years ago, I replied with: "Hiya, back."

**Hola, fellow readers! I hope I wasn't TOO confusing; I know when I try to describe stuff it can get a little iffy, a bit unorganized; but I hope you all got the main part. **

**HERE'S MY PLAN: In the next chapter, Max will flash back on her and Ash's time at The Academy (Which is, like, The School, but worse.) and you will learn what happened to her and Ash that made them split up, and how a younger sibling died, how Max got transferred to the school, etc. that sort of thing!**

**AND ****MYLAN**** WILL SOON ****DIE****, I GUARANTEE IT! ****FAX ALL THE WAY****! Just, well, not quite yet. =)**

**SO I hope you all will stick with me, and please give me your feedback! How do you like the characters/ do the events/upcoming ones sound like good ideas?/ does it make any SENSE, most importantly? **

**Please Review! Maybe 5-10 to start? **

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	2. Marks

**Okay hey everyone! I got good news and bad news; bad is that my itouch 2****nd**** gen got wet and died =( but good news is that I still got my old nano AND I got a friggin new laptop! SO HAPPY! Now I can write and write and write~! So bcuz I got this awesome new toy to play with, im going to try rly hard to update more often for u all! THANKS FOR THOSE WHO R STAYING WITH ME! u guys r AWESOME.**

**Btw, if ur wondering y I took so long to update, well, I honestly didn't think anyone was reading my story, so I dropped this one and started on my other one. Buuut I guess I was wrong, so, uh, here I am!**

******FYI**** : I WILL GIVE SHOUTOUTS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS! FOR EVERY SINGLE ONE, anonymous or not. ;) I think that's a fair deal. Also, I still do Q&A's, ppl, so ask away! Suggestions are needed!**

_So far, shoutouts to __**potterpatty96, GoldenRose101**__, __ummmm, someone who signed as__**me, FallenSnowAngel5297, Sam Ride **__(Who has also commented on my other stories: THANKS 3 __**),**__**Cirruz The Night Elf **__(ahaha, u made me laugh. ^.^),__**Avenging **__Angels __(lol THX for returning the favor, lol. How awesome of u. __**XD), **__**Thornessa**__ (for the wake up call), __**and special thanks to **__**Camie Ride **__**for being my first review. 333**_

_**U ppl rock! BTW: read the story AVENGING ANGELS By **__**Avenging Angels**__**. That story is AWESOME. A MUST READ! Lol!**_

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_**Chapter 2: Marks**_

I knew I couldn't trust the guy in front of me just yet. But everything—way he looks, the way he talks, the expressions he makes…..all of it, so far, seems to match the profile of what my 22 year old brother Asher would look like.

Then again, this is only his physical appearance. And from what I've learned, especially after dealing with Erasers and bad guys and such, I know that I have _got_ to know the person, and know _about_ the person to know whether or not the person is who they say they are.

So I wiped the smile straight off my face and faced "Asher".

To my surprise, he spoke first, with a hint of a smirk. "Lemme guess—you're probably debating on whether or not to trust me; and to do that, you 've most likely already observed my physical appearance. And… I'm guessing you also what some information so you can make your decision." He looked at me expectantly.

I shut my mouth with a snap, not knowing it had opened the slightest bit during his rant. "How did you—"

"It was one of the first things I taught you at the Academy when you were…what, five?" he smiled softly, as if remembering that day. I rose my eyebrows in surprise; me-I remembered it clearly; I had no idea that he would even still _think_ of such a thing!

_**.::Flashback::.**_

_A Tracker dragged me by the front of my shirt, not caring that I tripped on the way down the hall; my feet got tagled, and he ended up dragging me the entire way._

_A few feet in front of us was my ten year old brother. He, too, was being dragged down the hall by a Tracker. However, his constant fighting back wherever he went caused his Tracker to call another one in—and together they took him on each arm, restricting his movements._

_We were dragged down the hall—down, down, down… the entire time I was thinking, _GOD, why is this hallway _so_ _long_?

_Eventually, the Trackers halted sharply, making the collar of my t-shirt dig into the sensitive skin around my neck._

_Ash stopped struggling and gave up, seeing them push open the double doors that led into the holding room. _

_Though, in reality, the holding room was pretty much our prison cells. Cages lined the walls from end to end; ramps led up to higher floors where more cages were kept. We were treated like animals. And NOT in the cute-puppy way, either. _

_WHAM!_

_One of the Trackers, the smaller one, took the nightstick that hung on his side and slammed it into my brother's back, yelling, "C'mon, move it!" Ash didn't cry out, but grunted and glared daggers at the guy. I winced, but knew better than to speak. We both did; but on many occasions, Ash didn't seem to remember that rule. _

_We were again dragged as they took us into the room towards the far East corner, where we were roughly shoved into our big cage; we shared one—which I guess is a good thing. There's just enough room for us to (kind of) lay down, but not much else. The whitecoats here at the Academy somehow have come up with the idea that Ash and I are special; even more special than all the other hybrid people like him and I. They say that we are _gifted._ But, they are not sure which one of us has the true Gift; Ash, Me, or both of us, and the Gift of is divided equally among us. So, to sort their problem, they decided that to keep us both, and then later, when the power emerges, they'd dispose of whichever one they don't need._

_Ash always seems more cautious when this topic pops up; whenever I try to ask him about it, his expression turns all dark and scary and he says to me, "Just be careful what you do around them, okay? We'll be fine, I promise." So I just nod my head and drop the subject._

_And here we are, like any other day for us, sitting quietly in our cages as the Trackers laugh, like the crazy animals they are. The other one that was escorting Ash, the bigger, taller one, suddenly kicked the bars of our cage, making me jump and slam into the side of our cage. Ash held my hand for reassurance—for me or him, I'm not sure. _

_The Tracker leaned in so close his rotten, foul smelling breath made me want to gag; I didn't even wanna _know_ what he ate for breakfast, let alone last night's dinner. His eyes were narrow slits and the lights reflected off evil beady eyes. _**(A/N: loll I crack myself up….)**_ "You two little birdies sit tight; I hear your little sister just may join you…if you behave," He sneered at us. _

_Kat. She was only two years old, and they've kept her from us to test on her for about two weeks, I'm guessing. ( In this place, time was pretty much impossible to tell.)_

_I felt Ash's whole body tense next to me. "Kat—what did you do to her!" _

_He let go of my hand to launch himself towards the bars, but I grabbed both arms from behind his back, crying out, "Asher, no!" Ash almost immediately calmed down. The Tracker chuckled darkly at us before leaving with his buddies, the swinging doors slamming behind them._

_I looked at Ash and frowned. Without looking at me, unblinking eyes still glued on the exit, he asked, "What?" _

"_Nothing. I just can't understand it," I replied, flopping down and leaning on the bars._

_That got his attention. He finally sighed and turned to me, slumping down by my side in the same position. "There's a lot we _all_ don't understand around here, Max." _

_I shook my head. "No—no, I mean how can you stay so calm? Those Erasers are always messing with you and treat you worse than all of us. I mean, you do lose your cool a lot, but then right now it's as if that all went away." _

_He smiled. "Time for your next lesson, Max." Yes, lesson; he's teaching me everything he knows about how to survive in The Academy. And believe me, I'm a pretty smart five year old. "That calm, cool, and collected me you just saw after I 'lost my cool'_—" _He put in air quotes around the words I had used. "—is what you would call a person's physical appearance. Its what they look at on the outside._

"_Now, to survive in the wild or out in the woods of the regular world and you stumble upon a stranger, the first thing you should always do is to look them over; do a quick one-see and decide whether or not they are a threat to you."_

"_So, that's only what they are on the outside, then?" I asked._

_He nodded. "Right now, I was very, very angry, and if you didn't stop me I couldve done something very stupid. The Angry part of me stays inside, and I tried to make the situation easier by masking my expression or changing it so my physical appearance does not provoke that stupid Eraser any more than I already was. _

"_So the final thing you have to do when observing someone who is, say, a stranger, is—once you know they LOOK safe—its optional about whether or not you want to learn more about them; have them tell you stuff about them. This is something you, Max, must always do if you'll soon be working with the person. Take Milo for example_—" _he gestured to our left where Milo, another bird kid Ash's age, slept in his cage. He had dark brown hair, but could change the color of his hair and eyes, as well as his height. "—I went through this whole entire process with him. Eventually, after some talking, we trust each other. Now look at us—we're best friends.' He grinned, making me do the same. _

_**.::End Flashback::.**_

"Ma-ax! HELLo!" Oni and Anu pulled me out of my short (A/N: SHORT, haha. Aren't I SO FUNNY… ~_~) reverie and I turned back to Ash, thinking a bit before saying, "I don't know that you're the same Asher Ride that was in my cage. Our cage WAS bugged..." I raised an eyebrow, daring him to rebuttal.

...Which, of course, he did. He chuckled lightly. "Still the clever thinker, I see. Okay. Fine. Point to you." HAH. Max: 1—Ash: 0. NYEHHH! Still in the lead, as per usual.

"Okay, okay, okay—we've given you two enough time to sort this out." Iggy sood up to escort Ash out, but Nudge yanked him back down next ot her. He frowned and opened his mouth but then Jazzy spoke up, suggesting that maybe we could all go into the dining room and sit down. I had opened my mouth to ask what they had anything to do with it, but Jazzy cut me off again, gesturing to my thouroughly-confuzzled-flock and saying, "It kinda looks like you should explain some things to them, too." And. So there we went. (It also briefly made me think, _how come younger kids are so damn smart?_ Thus, ANGEL and JAZZY—both. GR)

As the rest of them headed down the hall to the dining room (where we would all sit around our ginormous kitchen table), Ash pulled me aside ans whispered harshly, "You haven't told them a aingle thing about me, haven't you? OR about The Academy? Or even about Kat?"

"NO, I HAVE _NOT_; I THOUGHT YOU WERE ALL _DEAD_, SMART ONE!" I shot back (Yes, I know; imma LOUD whisperer…). He looked shocked, like he had no idea he was supposed to be 'dead.' _Oh, don't give me that BULL_, I wanted to say; he's always been an excellent liar—to everyone except me. "Besides," I continued, now calm. (not that I wasn't before, of course) "we still have to find out if you're even the real thing." He gave me a sour face and we entered our dining room.

The others we seated, mixed up yet again, but the heads of the table were empty—_For you and your brother, Max. _Angel said in my head. I smiled and thought _Thanks, sweetie _back to her before sitting and gesturing for Ash to do the same.

I sat back thougtfuly. "Ok, _Ash. _We'll do this your way; Lets go 20 questions."

He rose an eyebrow. "That's tweaking my way, but sure," he grinned smugly. "ask away."

"HOW OLD ARE YOU?" Oni and Anu asked unanimously.

I slapped my forehead. "Those questions are for me, smart one." They grinned sheepishly and sat back. "You all are only here so I won't have to explain much later."

"Like I said, ask away," Ash repeated.

"How old are you?"

"22."

I smiled. _Check. _"How old am I?"

He rose an eyebrow. "Supposedly? Since we do not know our real ages, you are—as we decided in the Academy—five years younger than me, which makes you seventeen."

Hm…_check. _"Favorite color when I was three."

He took a second to think, then replied, "Green."

"Good. Now, _why?"_

"You liked our surroundings when we were…ever…outside of Academy walls. "

He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and shut his mouth. I nodded in understanding, thinking to myself, _I can't believe he's alive. He really does act like ol' Ash, but it cant be. He was supposed to be dead along time ago…its not possible—_

Why?The response was immediate, and I didn't expect it at all.

So you can see why I almost fell out of my chair.

"Max?" Ig asked, a hint of laughter in his voice. "That was _you? HAHAH-" _And he started laughing, until Nudge slapped him, making him rub his arm 'in pain'. Pain my ass.

"It's fine; just the voice dropping in for a little visit." I said, with an unconvincing smile. Fang atomatically raised his eyebrow in disbelief. Dylan was suddenly fully inspecting Ash.

_I'm not the voice, Max._ it was clearly a male voice in my head. So I could rule out the voice_—_who didn't sound like a certain gender—and Angel, who is _clearly_ a female.

Then my eyes snapped up to meet Ash's, across the table. He's eyes were wide, full of fear now.

"What?" I snapped. "Lets get back to the 20 questions."

_Its me, Max. ASH? _

I looked at him, giving him a 'this-is-the-LAST-thing-i-need-right-now' look. Aloud, I said, "seriously? Please tell me you're not in my head, too." I always knew that it was _possible_; I mean I've _heard_ that there were crazy powers siblings could have.

'Who's in your head 'too'?" Oni asked.

Nudge quickly explained the Voice and reminded them of Angel's freak mind powers.

Anu gave me a goofy grin. "So! The lady hears voices in her head, eh?"

Fiona slapped him, making him grin wider and Leo laugh.

"Sorry, Max; didn't know your mind was that crowded." Ash explained wih a dry laugh. "Don't worry though, it's a sibling related thing with us. You're in my head too. And I also have a Voice as well; it helped me get us all together."

I rose my eyebrows." A Voice..as in The Voice in _my head?_"

"It's a possibility."

"O-okkayy..but, we're just comminucating right? I mean, we don't have _thought_-access, right?" _OH GOD, PLEASE NO…_ I practically screamed.

He started laughing, to my dismay. "No. don't worry. But if you think _that loudly_ I can definitely hear it." Then he frowned. *_ Then again, I'm not supposed to be hearing her thoughts…._

"I heard that." I rose an eyebrow. "What was that supposed to mean?"

"Um…helloooo…..were'nt you guys doing the whole 20-Q thing?" Nudge interrupted.

"SHHH! They're having a brother-sister moment!" Ange said, elbowing her.

"Ok. Fine get back to that later," I asked. "By now I know _I _believe he's my brother, so why don't we just skip all this crap and just—"

"Um, Max?" Angel interrupted. I looked at her. "Actually, there's some people who don't quite believe it yet."

I blinked. "Um, okay. So…" I looked at Ash, who was fully-inspecting Dylan when he wasn't looking. "Mind if we continue?" He looked at me and answered with a look that said, 'I thought you knew me better!'

"Ok, ok, ok fine. Ummm…" I racked my brain for a good question. "Okay. When I was seven and you were twelve, what was the biggest event in out lives, and explain it."

He let out a thoughtflu breath. "Well, I'm pret ysure that's when we met Milo's—my best friend (he added in for the Flock's benefit)—sister, Nikki."

"Ah," I laughed. "Piss-me-off-and-I-kick-your-butt Nikki. I _clearly _remember her." I grinned at him an he looked away. So, to get his attention, I said: "Nikki was his g—"

"FRIEND," Ash interrupted, giving me the death glare. The death glare _I _use so many times.

"Sure. Okay. Whatever you say." I grinned some more, not able to help it. I saw Iggy and Dylan pass aknowing look and Anu and Oni looking between me and Fang, eyes moving rapidly. "Well? Talk, Ash, apparently its needed."

He sighed. "Ok. Like you said, I was twelve and you were seven."

_I woke up to the sound of screaming, and bullets, zipping around our cages. I bolted up, seeing Ash do the same next to me._

Ash continued. "We had woken up to loads of chaos, and there was twelve year old Nikki, doing what she does best: wrecking the Trackers. " Asher had gotten the full attention of the table by now.

"Trackers?" Fang asked, frowning. "What?"

I waved him off, saying, "I'll explain later. They're basically humans on steroids with like, supernatural powers." He rose an eyebrow skeptically, making me send him a, 'I-know-more-than-you-so-SHUT-IT' look.

"_Ash?" I asked. He came up and placed himself a little in front of me, holding onto the front bars of our cage as he peered out. I crawled my way beside him. "Whats going on?" He had his eyes glued onto the brown haired girl who had busted into the room. She had knocked one of the Trackers out cold with an unexpected kick to the base of the spine; his head slammed into the cement floor and he lay still. The other Tracker, however, grabbed her from behind and launched her into the cage to the left of Milo's, on our left. Milo bolted up from his sleeping position, eyes wide as he inspected his new neighbor. The strange part was that she ended up knocked out; the not strange part? The Tracker used some sort of black blast of energy to do it. Yup. Energy blast. Like a ginormous ball of energy. I know what it feels like; my brother as well. It hurts like hell, no matter how much pretty light is given off. For the weak, it felt like a thousand tasers pouring electricity through your veins. I had gotten used to the Trackers, or I was just really really tough ( I prefer the latter), because I knew how to get out of the blasts. Same as my brother. _

_It's not the Gift of _whatever _the whitecoats think we have; its not that big of a deal. We simply are able to contain or absorb the energy that's blasted towards us. So far that's all _I _can do. My brother can redirect it, to _any where_ he wanted. And you should see his energy! He doesn't throw these black, icky, BLAH energy blasts, he has these yellow, golden energy orbs. Its AMAZING. Shimmering like the a star, and powerful as heck. The Trackers got super pissed when he first redirected it (which was last week, by the way). They held him in a containing center for 5 days-no food, no water, old fashioned whip beatings and something else._

_Remember how I mentioned how my brother doesn't tell me some things? Well, he still doesn't. Something happened In that room that changed him, and he's not telling me what it is. The only thing I know for sure? He can't redirect anymore. NADA._

_Milo's voice interrupted my train of thought. "Nikki! Nik, you ok?" 'Nikki' didn't answer him._

"_She's out Milo," I muttered to him._

"_Yea, Miles, chill. She'll be fine. She's tough." Asher gave a persuasive grin. _

"_Yea…I know. The same thing all the time, though, you know? I get worried." Milo responded._

"_Yea, I know the feeling." Ash playfully gave me a look, and I grinned. _

_Milo sighed in frustration and sat down, soon scotching closer to us to talk. "Hey, think you can fry the security cameras again, Ash?"_

"_He can't create orbs, Milo." I put in. "Only redirect them, remember?"_

"_Oh yea. Crap." _

"_Besides," Ash said, "I can't redirect either." I sighed, forgetting that other important details. Its like his powers have been "turned off" or something. _

"_What? You can't?" Milo looked him in astonishment, "WHY? We could have probably escaped with that skill! That was like, MAD skills, man! That sucks! What happened?"_

_I said, "He doesn't wanna talk about it" and Asher said, "Don't wanna talk about it" at the same time, making Milo jerk in surprise and say, "Ok, ok, ok; gotcha," and laugh slightly._

_Ash jerked his thumb towards the new girl. "So what's her story?"_

"_Don't wanna talk about it," Miles mimicked. Ash and I glared, making him laugh again and say, "Ok geez, just kidding. She's my sister Nikki; same age." _

"_Bird too?" I asked, trying to see the girl's back through the darkness._

_"Yup. Same as me, whatever I am. 'Cept my wings are dark brown; hers are lighter." _

"_She can kick some butt out there, too, by the way,," Ash added._

"_Oh yeah, I know." We could see the whites of Milo's teeth as he grinned._

_We lapsed into a brief comfortable (as it can get) silence before a quiet, slight moan came from Nikki's cage._

"_Nik? Hey, you did it again." Miles said, coming towards her cage. He leaned against the bars between their cages. _

"_Did what again?" she asked, sitting up slowly. "God, I feel fried and all—OH. Wait, ok never mind… I think I remember now." She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Can't help it; I tend to piss of the Trackers."_

"_Oh, really? Then I guess you and I have something in common," I said with a grin. _

_She looked towards me and Ash as if just realizing we were here, which she probably just did. "Oh, sorry .who are you?"_

"_Nik, that's my buddy Ash, and his seven year old sis, Max." _

_She smiled at Ash and then looked at him. "So, Max, you the only sibling here? Stuck with him by yourself?" _

_I laughed and shook my head. "No. We have another younger sister, she's only three now, Kate. Or Kat, as we call her. But Kat was taken away from us a week ago." _

"_Oh, I'm so sorry." Nik replied. "Those bastards don't know _what_ they're doing."_

"_Oh, yea, they do." Milo said, angrily. "They know every little bit."_

_**.::End Flash::.**_

"So Kat…_isn't_, like, _a cat?"_" Leo asked.

I smiled sadly at him and then looked back at Ash, now solemn. "Something like that."

"Our KitKat," Ash joked. That cheered me up a little and I laughed, remembering that too. "Speaking of Kate, where is she? She living with another family or what?"

I bilnked rapidly in shcok, as if slapped. "Oh," I said quietly, looking at him miserably. "Oh God; you don't know, do you?"

He immediatley frowned. "What? Kat? Was she hurt or what?"

"Um….uh," I pursed my lips, not knowing hoe to break it to him.

"Max…." he warned. "Don't keep me out of the loop." My eyes flickered to Fang, to find him doing the same with me; we both remember the time he said those exact words.

"Let's go for a walk, Ash, out the back." I suggested. Before leaving I privately asked Angel to tell the rest what happened. Im pretty sure she had caught on to all our past events by now from the flashbacks I've been getting.

Our other doors to the backyard was a nice set of glass Frech doors. Right next to the dining room, so we didn't have far to walk.

Once Ash and I had walked through our yard and into the woods (yes, we had access to a forest from our yard), Ash had looked pale. "She never made it out of there, did she? The Academy kept her so we could do their every will."

"They knew we wouldn't say no. They had us." I said, dodging the question.

"So…."

I sighed, frustrated. "She's _dead, Ash, DEAD._ She's never coming back."

"It's all my _fault!" _we both said at the same time, causing us to glance at each other. This was no surprise—like I had said before, siblings have odd connections with one another.

"It's my fault, Ash. I _watched her die._ I could've stopped it all; the blood, tears, the torture…it was unbearable—me, to watch, but for her… I can't even imagine."

Ash started shaking his head slowly at the beginning, then more rapidly towards the end. "No…no, no, NO Max! Don't you see? It's MY fault! _I_ had escaped to find help; _I_ knew I'd be leaving you two alone by yourselves—"

"We had Miles and Nikki," I objected.

"Still. You know how I am." Yea, overprotective brother much…. "I swear, Max, I came back, like, 3 days later and the facility where you were kept at-it was _blown_ to smithereens! It's ALL on me, Max."

"Would you stop saying that?" I asked, irritation showing. "It is NOT your fault, AND—" I held up a hand as he tried to speak over me. "_besides,_ I was supposed to take care of her and I failed. _I let them take her,"_ I finished quietly. We break through the brush and found that we had circled back into our yard.

We silently walked up and stood by the back steps, me feeling more guilty the entire time. I looked up at him hopelessly as we stopped and a tear slid down my cheek. "I'm so sorry, Ash," I said quietly, voice breaking.

His eyes looked broken and he pulled me in close into embrace. I put my arms around his chest and buried my face as he said, "I shouldn't have left. I'm sorry, too, Max."

I stepped back and placed my hands on my hips. Frowning up at him, I said, "That's true, you shouldn't have left. Do you know what you put me through? I thought you were dead. They showed me _pictures_, Ash, _pictures _of—"

_SHHHHHHHHHHING! _

A very familiar blast, a black blast I have seen several times before, came out of _nowhere,_ slamming into Ash and knocking him sideways. "ASH!" I screamed, seeing him soar (yes, he soared) through the air for a brief second before crashing through our French doors, leaving a big splintering glass-hole for me to look through.

I turned and narrowly avoided another one while jumping off the steps. It flew past me and shattered whatever was left of my precious French doors. "HEY!" I placed a hand above my eyes to shield the afternoon sunlight. "HELLO?" I shouted into the woods. I started walking out, slightly, towards the center of our yard. "Those doors took a long while to put up, you hear me?"

"Max, what the _hell_ is going on!" Fang called from behind me. When he saw where I was, he shouted, "Are you _insane?_ What's the matter with you!"

"Fang, don't you dare come out here…" I warned, but I could already hear him as he stopped a foot behind me.

"You really aren't in the position to order me, Max. You are practically committing _suicide_, so I think I'm allowed to start moving your feet _for you!"_ he hissed in my ear. He actually started to grab my arm and pull me away.

I saw the bright light of the orb light up 20 or so yards in front of me, and I pushed Fang away harshly, yelling, "GO! Get DOWN!"

He just stared at me like I _was_ insane, and by the time I turned around I once again jumped aside to avoid an orb. Fang's eyes widened, seeing it on the path straight towards him; so I leg sweeped him to get him _on the ground_, the idiot.

I stood up and realized my fingertips shook; I was already trying to tap into powers I _swore_ I'd never use again. Last I used it was when I was 8—transferred to the school. Long story short, I couldn't do it, even if I wanted to. I wouldn't know how.

…at least, that's the story I'm TOLD…..

So I did the best I could do, dodging all the ones that came at me. Fang kept trying to pull me back, and I kept pushing him away. "Get my brother, Fang; I need his butt here _now!_"

"Max—"

"GO! PLEASE Fang, just DO IT." I insisted, rolling onto the ground before seeing him dart off.

Before long I saw three Trackers Emerge from the trees. The first was a reddish-pink haired girl, possibly 20, with hazel eyes. Next to Pinkie was a tall, failry built guy with brown hair and eyes. The final guy had black hair, a slab crossing in front of his eyes, which were, to my surprise, an ugly yellow color. YES, ugly. Have you ever SEEN Yellow eyes?

I noticed two things at once as I stood my ground. 1) What changed? The power of their orbs…extremely painful. I still feel the tingle where one had only _brushed_ my arm. 2) What _hasn't changed?_ They still wore their classic black combat outfits. Now, though, most likely equipped with gadgets I've never even heard of.

They all held up a hand, three blasts sparking in their fingertips; then—they released, all three heading at me at the same time.

It all seemed like it was suddenly in slow motion. I was like, frozen in shock, then outta nowhere comes my brother; he's suddenly in front of me, hands slightly in front of him, capturing each orb as they came at us, and redirecting it. As he did, the orbs turned that breathtaking gold as they sparked through the air. The Trackers were probably not expecting that, because they didn't jump out of the way in time. All three were immediately thrown back into the darkness.

My eyes widened at his power. I looked back and forth between Ash and the forest, before saying, "Wow. I guess you got your ability back, huh…?"

I could tell he wasn't paying complete attention to what I was saying. "Yea, sure. C'mon—we've got to get you out of here."

I only had time to say, "Wha? Me? What's supposed to mean?" before he grabbed my hand and dragged me back into the house.

I stumbled in through the broken glass doors after Ash as Fang and the flock (EVERYONE is now my flock, fyi. ) gradually gathered themselves before us.

"Um," I rubbed the back of my neck uncertainly, looking at Ash. I noticed how exhausted he looked. "Well, you remember how we were explaining the Trackers? You know, those—''

"Humans on steroids? With supernatural powers?" Leo filled in.

"Greeaaat…" Iggy expressed sarcastically. "And I suppose _they're_ our new visitors?"

"Well….yea, kinda." I replied, embarrassed that Ash and I had caused this much trouble in, what, the 30 minutes he arrived?

"Get DOWN!" Ash yelled. _NOW they listen… _I thought as everyone dropped to the floor.

See, when I said _everyone,_ I never said me. So as one orb of big black energy was thrown at directly at me. I'm guessing Ash would've knocked me down by now if he could've, because instead of doing something like _that,_ He told me, "Focus on sending energy to your hands, Max, and spread them apart! FAST!"

I did what I could in the brief second I had before it hit me; I focused with my _life_ on 'sending energy' to my hands. I remembered trying it back when I was 7. It felt like your fingertips were gripping some invisible…thing. Force, for lack of a better word.

I made my hands, which were previously gripped together in front of me, spread out about two feet and I immediately gasped, seeing my power emerge. I felt the power radiating from my hands…and it felt _exhilarating,_ as if more energy and life ran through my veins.

It looked like a barrier; at the same time, it had that sparking, flowing energy of an orb—except it was stretched between my fingers. And MY color was blue. Blue like a sapphire blue. VERY pretty, if you ask me.

_WHAMM!_

Just as I had finished admiring my work, that same, stupid black blast slammed into my barrier, sending me skidding back on my feet. _Forgot about that one,_ I thought, regaining my balance. My barrier was still up, glowing a strong blue…the only thing that was different was that I was _obviously_ tired, and my barrier had captured that irritating black orb. My eyes widened and I yelled, "What the HELL?" as it continued to spin in a circle, as a fly would try to escape a web.

"SMUSH IT, MAX!" Ash called from the end of the room; briefly I saw him stand and start redirecting the other orbs that came this way.

"Uh….SMUSH it…sure, I think I can do that….smush…it…" I awkwardly tried to force my hands together, but found that it was a teeny bit harder than I thought. Like…trying to pop a water balloon by smashing your two _flat palmed_ hands together. It definitely didn't feel normal, and as I did it, the back of my neck started burning, then it felt like searing pain was ripping through the spot like a knife.

The orb (and barrier, for that matter) disintegrated and I felt the pain slowly ebb away from my neck.

"Weird," Ash said, out of breath. "They _ran."_

"_RAN?" _I asked, disbelieving. Trackers _never_ run! They give chase, but never _ever_ ran before!

"You heard me."

It was quiet for about a minute as everyone took in what happened. "Well," I finally said, breaking the silence, "Fang, I guess you and your flock could call this your welcoming committee," I said flatly.

He gave me an irritated look from where he crouched in a corner, and something flashed across his eyes; he changed his expression too fast for me to catch it. Hm. At least he's still remembers that I can probably still read him like a book…

"SO, HELLO? Can we come out now?" Nudge called from under the table. Her, Fi, Gazzy, Angel, and Leo were under the table. The twins (Keoni and Keanu) were slumped against the wall with Jazzy, and Iggy was with Fang.

Ash came back to me and inspected my hands. "Yes, you all can come out. It's over."

"Thank GOD!" Gaz exclaimed.

Leo muttered, "Thank you, God…" making the Gasman laugh.

"That sounded like a freakin war zone…" Iggy said. "Just saying, it was pretty intense."

"How do you feel?" Ash asked me.

"For the most part, I'm fine. Just really tired. And there's this tingling feeling on the back of my neck." I moved my hair aside and turned around, allowing him to see it. "Take a look?"

He sighed and looked, even though he said, "I don't need to. I know you've been Marked."

I whirled around. "Say WHAT now?"

"Marked. See, take a look at the back of my neck. " He turned around and I brushed away the long strands of his tan hair to see…nothing. Just skin. "See now watch this—'' He created an orb in his hand, making me envy his power already, and a symbol that looked like a Y appeared. The Y had a line extending vertically from the base of the Y (going up in between the two extensions of the Y) and then another line going horizontally where the three lines of the Y meet. A curved line, as if from a half circle, crossed this horizontal line and sat below the top two lines of the Y. It was, as you can see, very intricate.

However, once Ash's orb disappeared, so did the mark. I blinked in confusion. "So, wait, I have a Mark too?"

"Well, do you get a searing, pinching, or tingly pain?" He asked.

"Um, all…three?" I answered.

Now it was _his_ turn to blink. "Wow. Okay. Then you are _definitely _Marked."

"Okay. Well, that's kinda cool. So what does my mark look like?'' I turned around and pulled my hair away from my neck so he could see.

"See, that's the problem, Max. We can't know til you can create an energy filed-or an orb, like you call them. That's the only way to make it appear."

"Wait first of all, isn't called an orb?" I asked. He shook his head. "_Energy _Orb, or ball, or Energy Field. Simple "Orbing" is what Jasmine does—an entirely different process. And before you ask, _yes, _I'll help you learn how to control your powers." He grinned, making me hug him.

"Its great to have you back, bro."

i felt a tug and looke down. "Hey Max? WHere's your boyfriend?" Jazzy asked.

"Oh, and speaking of him, you and I have a lot to talk about concerning _that_ guy..." Ash said.

I waved him off and said, "Yeah, yeah, whatever-hey guys! anyone seen Dylan?" After a minute of looking around, i asked again, "GUYS?" No one answered me, but instead we all went searching around the house, some going outside in the yard (with strict orders not to go into the woods) to call his name.

Almost ten minutes later, we all met back with nothing to report.

"But Max," Nudge asked. "Didn't you see Dylan go outside? Right after you and Ash left to talk, he got worried you were taking so long so he went out to go search for you."

I frowned and looked at Ash to find him doing the same thing. "No, we didnt see anything."

"I didnt hear anything either," Ash added.

"Well guys," Fiona said, plopping into a chair. "I guess this is what it means when someone is currently MIA."

"MIA?" Leo asked, confused.

"Missing In Action."

* * *

**I've always loved that abbrieviation... MIA. Sounds very professional to me, LOL. **

**So yeah, sorry guys; meant to make that ending a little better that that, but I was able to slip in a little fight scene for ya. Hope that energy orb talk wasn't too confusing. Everytime I get into describing things, such as scenery, powers, or whatever, I get too into trying to make it imaginable and it comes out crappy so IM SORRY. **

**And if u didn't catch my A/N up above, I said I wasn't going to continue this story cuz I thought no one was reading it. But I guess I was wrong. Thanks guys!  
**

**Working on the next chapter, but I need my review count to pass 17 or 18. Sounds like a good number to me. [:**

**REVIEWS=UPDATES!**

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**19+ reviews, ppl! ^_^**

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**:P**


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